Is reducing fossil fuel intensity important for environmental management and ensuring ecological efficiency in China?

PATA U. K., ERDOĞAN S., Ozkan O.

Journal of Environmental Management, cilt.329, 2023 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 329
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.117080
  • Dergi Adı: Journal of Environmental Management
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, PASCAL, Aerospace Database, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Aqualine, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Communication Abstracts, Environment Index, Geobase, Greenfile, Index Islamicus, Metadex, Pollution Abstracts, Public Affairs Index, Veterinary Science Database, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: China, Dynamic ARDL simulations, Ecological efficiency, Fossil energy intensity, Globalization
  • Hatay Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Since China is a country with high environmental pollution, researchers have intensively studied China's environmental problems using various environmental indicators such as carbon emissions and ecological footprint. Unlike previous literature, this study analyzes the effects of economic growth, globalization, foreign direct investment, and fossil energy intensity on ecological efficiency in China. As an innovation to the literature, the study examines the Chinese ecosystem simultaneously with its economic and environmental aspects by focusing on ecological efficiency. To this end, the study applies dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) simulations and kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) methods for the period from 1990 to 2018. The results of the DARDL simulations show that globalization, and economic growth enhance ecological efficiency in China. The findings also demonstrate that both foreign direct investment and fossil fuel intensity have a negative impact on environmental quality in China. Based on these results, the study suggests that the Chinese government should adopt policies to channel foreign direct investment into environmentally friendly production, reduce fossil fuel intensity, and improve ecological efficiency by making use of environmentally friendly technologies provided by globalization and economic development.